It is often desired to secure an elongated object or other shaped object to some other object. For example, the present invention relates to fastening and supporting devices for the securement, typically at elevated levels, at or near the level of a ceiling, of selected conduits including, without limitation, electrical and fluid conduits, as well as for supporting insulation and lath.
Fastening and supporting devices which are adapted to be secured to a supporting surface by means of existing threaded rod hangers are of growing importance. With the advent of computers and various telecommunication systems, the number of wires and cables which need to be installed in the space between ceilings and floors and between walls continues to increase very rapidly. This is also true for other types of conduits used for various plumbing, air conditioning and heating applications. Many of these have to be retrofit to existing and much older structures which lack even the simplest supporting devices.
Conventional hangers for supporting such conduits and ductwork need to be drilled into concrete surfaces usually in relatively inaccessible places which require significant expense and considerable man-hours in a not especially safe environment. Various devices have been proposed but they have been found to involve a complicated and expensive manufacturing procedure, to have limited application, to require special tools for their application, or to suffer from other disadvantages.
It is common practice in commercial construction today to embed in concrete ceilings, before finishing the interior, threaded rods hanging vertically therefrom for supporting main drainage piping from sinks, toilets, floor drains and the like. These rods are normally on 4 feet to 12 feet centers depending upon the weight and type of the conduit, pipe, etc. to be hung from the ceiling.
Subsequently, when electricians and plumbers arrive to install wiring and wiring harnesses, piping, ducting and HVAC tubing, for example, it is the practice for them to drill additional holes in the concrete to install supplemental rods in high, often out-of-the-way tight locations for hanging the products associated with their work. This is time consuming, inconvenient, tedious, sometimes hazardous, involves additional materials and is, therefore, expensive. Further, the process of servicing such conduits once installed, is prone to the same problems.
There are, of course, many types of commercially available supports available for hanging beams and conduits from such vertical three-eighths and one-half inch threaded rods having utilility in residential, commercial and industrial environments. However, these are invariably affixed to the ends of the rod since this is the only way they can be seated. For example in FIG. 1 is shown a trapeze support and in FIG. 2 a pipe or conduit hanger which illustrates this principle.
None of the above, nor other prior art known to the inventor, disclose a device which not only may be readily affixed anywhere between the ends of an existing rod already having structure attached to the end thereof, but which may then provide the bracket structure to allow a third element to be mounted thereto such as for the selective inclusion of electrical and fluid conduits and the like and for the selective decoupling therefrom if necessary.
There are, of course, many types of clamps available in the market for not only merely clamping things together, but also to allow a third element to be mounted thereon. For example, a conduit bracket lock system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,973,014 issued to Daigle et al is a constructional surface engagement element having radially projecting elements for nestingly resiliently engaging a pipe, conduit or cable. Whereas, U.S. Pat. No. 5,590,567 issued to Marrs et al and U.S. Pat. No. 4,953,801 issued to Oikawa are concerned with devices for clipping or snapping in place a holder or retainer to be mounted for supporting a cable or other elongated object such as a wiring harness in automotive applications. However, none of these are suited to alleviate the problems presented above.
In response to the above described limitations in the prior art, the present invention is directed. The instant invention is designed to rotate and lock on at any point on the rod between the connection at the top and the bottom of the rod. Furthermore, this device allows for a mounting surface to be suspended from the threaded rod. This surface will then allow any type of structural bar or other device to be mounted vertically or horizontally from the hanging rod.
Thus, it is an object of the instant invention to provide a device which will avoid the need to drill additional holes in ceiling concrete and embed therein new hangers for affixing thereto the various additional components required in modern building construction.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved fastening device of the character indicated which can be secured to a ceiling easily and rapidly, and which can be satisfactorily used without special tools or implements.
Another feature of the invention resides in the structure of the device whereby the device may be adapted to support either piping or other conduits or even sheet material such as insulation boards and blankets.
It is an additional object to achieve this objective by utilizing the existing hanging rods as the constructional surface engagement element in these out-of-the-way, somewhat hazardous locations.
It is a further object of the invention to achieve the above objects by utilization of a clamping device which is simply inserted on the pre-existing threaded rod horizontally and then rotated so as to lock its hooks around the threaded rod and thereafter locking the clamp in place by means of a screw or bolt with a jam nut preventing the screw or nut from backing off.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide an improved conduit bracket lock system.
It is another object of the present invention to provide conduit bracket lock systems having particular utility in the suspension of electrical and fluid conduits at or near the line of interconnection between walls and ceilings of residential, commercial and industrial structures.
It is another object of the present invention adapted for ease of installation and servicing of the secured conduit.
It is therefore an object of the invention to secure an elogated object in place by a retainer having low insertion force and strong resistance to unwanted removal, and is ergonomically easy to install.
Still another object is a retainer system that restrains an elongated object in most or all degrees of freedom and particularly is strong in the axial direction.
The above and yet other objects and advantages will become apparent in the hereinafter set forth detailed description of the invention, the drawings, and claims appended herewith.
The instant invention is formed of components which may be selectively coupled together as to form common connections between all components thereof, thereby alleviating the need for much of the laborious aspects associated with installation of conduits as has been known in the prior art.